Birth as an American Rite of Passage
Why do so many American women allow themselves to become enmeshed in the standardized routines of technocratic childbirth--routines that can be insensitive, unnecessary, and even unhealthy? Anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd first addressed these questions in the 1992 edition. Her new preface to this 2003 edition of a book that has been read, applauded, and loved by women all over the world, makes it clear that the issues surrounding childbirth remain as controversial as ever.
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"I can say without hesitation that in the 36 years I have been helping childbearing women, there is only a handful of books that have had a great cultural impact. This is one of them."—Roberta M. Scaer, Editor of Genesis Library Journal Davis-Floyd has written a brilliant feminist analysis of childbirth rites of passage in American culture. These rites, she argues, take away women's power over their bodies, naturally designed to bring life into the world, and for no physiological reason give it to the medical system. She believes that society, intimidated by women's ability to give birth, has designed obstetrical rituals that are far more complex than natural childbirth itself in order to deliver what is from nature into culture. ``In this way,'' she writes, ``society symbolically demonstrates ownership of its product.'' This beautiful book, full of insightful interviews with women on a range of birth experiences and with an extensive bibliography, is a wonderful addition to the growing literature on the anthropology of the body and the theoretical debates over mind/body and nature/culture dichotomies. Essential for all anthropology and women's studies collections and medical school libraries and highly recommended for public libraries.-- Patricia Sarles, Mt. Sinai Medical Ctr. Lib., New York
TablesPreface to the Second EditionAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Birth as a Rite of Passage11One Year: The Stages of the Pregnancy/Childbirth Rite of Passage222The Technocratic Model: Past and Present443Birth Messages734Belief Systems About Birth: The Technocratic, Wholistic, and Natural Models1545How the Messages Are Received: The Spectrum of Response1876Scars into Stars: The Reinterpretation of the Childbirth Experience2417Obstetric Training as a Rite of Passage2528The Computerized Birth? Some Ritual and Political Implications for the Future2819Or Birth as the Biodance?292App. AInterview Questions Asked of Mothers309App. BInterview Questions Asked of Obstetricians313Notes317References331Index369
\ Library JournalDavis-Floyd has written a brilliant feminist analysis of childbirth rites of passage in American culture. These rites, she argues, take away women's power over their bodies, naturally designed to bring life into the world, and for no physiological reason give it to the medical system. She believes that society, intimidated by women's ability to give birth, has designed obstetrical rituals that are far more complex than natural childbirth itself in order to deliver what is from nature into culture. ``In this way,'' she writes, ``society symbolically demonstrates ownership of its product.'' This beautiful book, full of insightful interviews with women on a range of birth experiences and with an extensive bibliography, is a wonderful addition to the growing literature on the anthropology of the body and the theoretical debates over mind/body and nature/culture dichotomies. Essential for all anthropology and women's studies collections and medical school libraries and highly recommended for public libraries.-- Patricia Sarles, Mt. Sinai Medical Ctr. Lib., New York\ \
